Junglers cop individual honors as Karltzy wins Season MVP, Matt bags Best Rookie

This season is the era of junglers.

ECHO’s Karl “Karltzy” Nepomuceno and Omega Esports’ Ron Matthew “Matt” Papag topped the individual honors in the MPL Philippines Season 12 on Saturday, Oct. 28, at the EVM Convention Center.

Karltzy added another feather to his already well-decorated hat, bagging the MPL Philippines regular season MVP while Matt was hailed as the Rookie of the Season.

The ECHO star jungler won the plum for the second time since Season 5 after his career saw a resurgence in the past two seasons including the Season 12 performance where he posted an average KDA of 4.30 on 2.27 kills and 5.67 assists.

“Six season ko ulit inantay na makuha ito. Since season 6 ako huling (nag MVP) so sobrang saya ko lang, sobrang laking boost nito sa laban namin,” said Karltzy after receiving the award.

“Di pa pala ako humina,” added Karltzy who first received an individual award in the MPL during Season 6 when he was hailed as the Finals MVP.

Karltzy actually is the first non-roamer winner of the regular season MVP award since it was first given in Season 8 when the league entered franchise setup.

Meanwhile, Matt emerged as the rookie with most impact in the season, delivering on the jungler role in Omega’s regular season run.

He put up 1.75 kills, 4.67 assists on 2.08 KDA and 68 percent kill participation. Matt is the third rookie jungler to bag the plum since RSG Philippines’ Jhonard “Demonkite” Caranto and AP.Bren’s Kyle “Kyletzy” Sayson won it in Seasons 8 and 10 respectively.

ECHO coach Harold “Tictac” Reyes was hailed as the coach of the season after steering ECHO to a top seed finish in the regular season, highlighted by a record-tying 10-0 win streak.